KALAMAZOO, MI – To knock off MAC East-leading Akron, Western Michigan University women’s basketball needed strong performances from a number of players.

What it got was career days.

Three players notched career highs in points as the Broncos held on for an 84-77 win Saturday to snap a five-game losing streak and earn its first MAC win of the season. Broncos head coach Shane Clipfell wasn’t shy in his assessment of how the team played.

“It’s the best game we’ve played to date on both sides of the ball and it was our most complete game in terms of being able to put two halves together,” Clipfell said.

Sophomore guard A.J. Johnson led the team with 21 points, a career high, while forwards Marquisha Harris and Miracle Woods added 19 and 15 points respectively, also career highs.

The Broncos (5-12, 1-3 MAC) shot 59 percent from the field in the first half and led by as many as many as 11 before going to the locker room with a 38-32 lead. The Broncos were led by Woods’ 11 first half points while Harris added nine points, seven rebounds and three steals.

“Marquisha got us off to a great start, Miracle got us off to a great start,” Clipfell said. “We’re not a great shooting team, so we should be getting the ball inside a little more.”

Johnson, who finished with a career-high six assists, said the team took that game plan to heart right from the tip.

“Within the first three minutes, we could tell that Marquisha and Miracle were going to be able to do whatever they wanted so we were just trying to get the ball to them.”

In addition to her 19 points, Harris added 12 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and an assist, and Clipfell said she also brought energy in the post against Akron’s impressive forwards.

“I would love to have five kids with her personality, in terms of, if she’s posting hard and she doesn’t get the ball, she doesn’t quit. If the ball gets swung around, she’ll go to the other side and post hard,” Clipfell said. “I’m going to try and hammer that with the team, we need everybody playing that way.”

In the second half, the Broncos were once again able to stretch the lead to double digits, but Akron wouldn't go away quietly. Midway through the half, Akron went on a 16-6 run that turned a 51-41 Bronco lead into a tie game with just over eight minutes left to play.

Western Michigan University women's basketball coach Shane Clipfell

The Zips (12-5, 3-1 MAC) had four players score in double figures, led by Hanna Luburgh’s 19 and Sina King’s 18. Rachel Tecca, the MAC’s leading scorer, finished with 16 points in 27 minutes. Clipfell said he thought the team did a great job defensively despite Akron scoring 77 points and shooting nearly 50 percent.

“The first thing I look at is, gosh, we gave up 77 points to that team and 48 percent shooting, but I thought we defended really, really well in this game,” Clipfell said.

The Broncos were able to push the lead back out to eight with about five minutes left in the game, but Akron was once again battled back, cutting the lead to five with less than three minutes remaining.

Akron’s Taylor Ruper hit a 3 to cut the lead to two and then Akron was able to create a turnover in the backcourt and King put in a layup to bring the teams even at 70.

“That’s where our team, any team, could have had the chance to say, ‘Oh my gosh, here we go again,’ and our team fought back from that, and I think that was the biggest thing that happened tonight that should help us the most,” Clipfell said.

The Broncos got a jumper by Harris and two baskets by Corie Buchanan to extend the lead to 76-72 with under a minute left. Then the Broncos got the job done at the free throw line. Three players combined to make eight of nine free throw attempts to ice the game. Alex Morton, who played a team high 37 minutes, made two of the final eight free throws thanks to positive thoughts.

“You have to stay positive because if you let any bad thoughts in your head you have more of a chance of missing it so I just try to keep myself calm. I knew we were going to need those two free throws,” Morton said.

Clipfell said this is a game the team can point to for the rest of the season to show what can happen when it plays its best.

“If we don’t have confidence from this, we’ll never get it,” Clipfell said. “I thought our defense played better than the numbers are going to show they played. That’s the trouble I’m having instilling in them is that we’re not as bad defensively as our numbers show that we are.”

The Broncos will need that confidence this week as they have two road trips, first to Northern Illinois on Wednesday and then Buffalo on Saturday.

“It will be a good challenge for us, and the thing I like about our team is that we’re young enough to not know that should be a disadvantage,” Clipfell said.